Thursday, April 29, 2010

Waiting for the Clouds 8:24:16 AM, April 27, 2010

PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL: This afternoon the lighting guy in the sky had the evening off and left the house lights on full, but I'm still thinking about "theater lights." Another element worth considering:

2. FLUX: Sometimes the cloud patches are randomly scattered, an equal oportunity sky, but at other times the clouds will configure themselves into crests and troughs. I learned long ago that clouds' motion can be deceptive, and I've wasted much time standing with sunshine falling somewhere to the left and right of me and sure the clouds were shifting one of those beams my way. It's much easier to tell how the clouds are moving by following a beam of light cast against the hillside than by trying to follow the gaps in the clouds, but when the sky is arranged in long rows of cloud, chances are the clouds are moving in the direction the rows point. The currents that carry the clouds move up and move down and are affected by land contours as they move. As the air lifts it may even form new clouds. One may think the cloud mass is moving on when it is actually forming overhead. As a general rule it's fruitless to chase the sunshine, but in the conditions just described one must eventually cut ones losses and try another hillside.

5 comments:

Trotter said...

Hi Ted! Hopefully not the ash cloud... ;)

Curious about Halicarnassus? Blogtrotter Two has it... ;) Enjoy and have a great weekend!!

Jeannette StG said...

Interesting to read your journal -I guess much of a photographer's work and art is to be there at the right moment -oh, I don't know if I would have the patience for that!
But while you're waiting I see that you took some other also very worthwhile pics! Such light is coming from the reeds!

Emery Roth said...

Trotter - The ash cloud and the oil spill touch us all, but neither has reached Connecticut directly.

Jeannette - Yes, for me photography is often about waiting, and it can try ones patience, and yes also one learns to shoot the possible whether that means preparing for post-processing or shooting without sky. Thanks for stopping by.

Trotter said...

The oil spill is a terrible and never ending disaster...

Emery Roth said...

Let us hope it brings us to our senses about care of the planet.